Rapper Lecrae revealed he once made “an idol” out of theologian and pastor John Piper, admitting that his admiration for the Desiring God founder became so great that he treated Piper’s words as unquestionable truth.
Speaking on a recent episode of his “The Deep End” podcast, the Grammy Award-winning Christian rapper reflected on his decades-long relationship with Piper and shared how his respect for the pastor eventually crossed into unhealthy territory.
“Also, do I want to be this honest? Yeah, I’ll be this honest. I made an idol out of John Piper. His words became truth,” Lecrae said. “I’m not realizing I see him as like a father figure. I think that’s healthy in some senses, but it’s also unhealthy.”
Lecrae, who grew up without a father, said that over the years, he came to realize that unresolved personal wounds shaped the way he viewed influential Christian leaders and sought affirmation from older men.
As a young believer searching for theological depth, he discovered Piper’s book Desiring God, eventually leading him to partner with Piper’s “Don’t Waste Your Life” ministry, write songs inspired by Piper’s teaching and develop a personal relationship with the pastor.
“You would have thought that I had met the second coming of Christ the way my eyes popped out of my head reading this book,” Lecrae said. “It was revelatory.”
“Y’all, I’ve met Michael Jordan. I’ve met Jay-Z. I’ve met Beyoncé. I have met Kendrick [Lamar]. I have met them all. None of them created the sense of like awe that was created when I met John Piper,” he said. “I’ve met the last three presidents. The only other person that shook me up [like that] was Tim Keller.”
He said he was “literally shaking” during that first meeting because Piper’s teaching had so profoundly shaped his life. Looking back, Lecrae said much of that admiration stemmed from his desire for paternal affirmation.
“It’s unhealthy because I have this trauma that I’m dealing with that wants to be affirmed by somebody, specifically a man,” Lecrae said. “I have this part of me that unknowingly believes that, because the theologians that I’m listening to are older white men, that somehow white men are smarter and better. Unknowingly I’m believing this.”
“And another problem that I’m processing is I don’t realize or believe that there’s anything I could teach them, that there’s any mutual exchange of information. I’m also not scrutinizing their theology, either, he added.
Although Lecrae said he no longer agrees with Piper on every issue, he emphasized that he still “deeply” appreciates and loves the 80-year-old pastor.
“I’m now at a place where I love that man. I’ve never publicly said that. I’m now at a place where I love that man. I’m grateful for that man. I deeply appreciate that man. And I’m not ashamed of that,” he said.
“I don’t think me subscribing to everything John Piper subscribes to makes me a better Christian,” he said. “I think it’s safe for a lot of us, though, because he’s smarter than us. Because he’s lived longer than us, he’s got a lot of wisdom. It’s safe to just say, ‘I’m just going to blindly follow everything he says because it’s safer for me to not have to think for myself.'”
Reflecting on his journey, Lecrae said he ultimately realized “Jesus was never asking me to build my identity around any human leader,” revealing it took “a day of investigation” into how God used imperfect people to shape his faith while pointing him back to Christ.
He said he eventually recognized that “John Piper’s words were my mission. I began to hear his words as God’s truth instead of a man interpreting God’s truth to the best of his abilities.”
While still describing Piper as “a brilliant historical game-changer,” Lecrae urged Christians to remember that even respected spiritual leaders are human.
“Hold your heroes in the tension of the reality that they’re human, of the reality that they will fail you,” he said, warning that those who follow leaders “without any question” will “repeat their flaws as well.”
“When you start humanizing people, you’re less hurt by them,” he added. “When you start humanizing them, they cannot be the heroes that you make them out to be and they can’t be the villains either that you make them out to be. They become human. … I have nothing ill to say [about Piper]. I think you all in the lane that you’re running in for the people that you have been called to. Well done. Keep going.”
In a 2023 interview with The Christian Post, Lecrae shared how Keller’s book Prodigal Prophet saved him during one of the “darkest seasons” in which he contemplated ending his life. The book centers on the biblical story of Jonah and how he points forward to Jesus, God’s true prophet.
“I am literally on the verge of wanting to end my life, being honest,” he shared. “And I’m trying to read this book, like, ‘God, just speak to me.'”
At that moment, he looked out the window and was shocked to see the water from the ocean shooting up into the sky: “I thought to myself, ‘So now I’m losing my faith, and I’m going crazy. I’m losing my mind, now the water’s coming out of the ocean up into the sky. I’m done. it’s a wrap for me,'” he said.
“And as I’m reading Prodigal Prophet, a story of Jonah and a giant fish, I see this massive whale come up out of the ocean, and come back down, and the water had been coming from its spout,” Lecrae continued. “It was almost as if God was just saying, ‘I’m here. I’m with you. I see you, and keep pushing forward.’ And that was a life-altering moment.”
For Lecrae, who now has a whale tattoo on his arm in honor of that experience, that was just one example of the many ways Keller, founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan and co-founder of the church-planting network Redeemer City to City, impacted his life and career.
“He was very kind and generous and caring and nurturing toward those outside of the faith while still holding on to his views and his biblical beliefs,” Lecrae said. “There’s a way to do it where you’re not obnoxious and you’re not condescending, but you’re, in many ways, saying, ‘Listen, I’m a broken human being like the rest of you all. It’s just this grace that is transformed me … and allows me to have the confidence in who God is and who I am in Christ.”
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]
